International Journal of Trend in Scientific
Research and Development (IJTSRD)
International Open Access Journal
ISSN No: 2456 - 6470 | www.ijtsrd.com | Volume - 1 | Issue – 6
Biodiesel Production
ction from Oleaginous Yeast: A Review
R
S. Karthika
PG and Research Department of Microbiology,
S.T.E.T. Women’s College, Sundarakkottai,
Mannargudi, Thiruvarur, Tamilnadu, India
ABSTRACT
This study explored a strategy to convert agricultural
residues into microbial lipid, which could be further
transformed into biodiesel. Demand of alternative
fuels is increasing day by day due to the present crisis
of petroleum based fuels. Biodiesel is one of the most
demanding alternative fuels. One probable solution is
to use microorganisms; especially oleaginous species,
because of their higher lipid content and almost
similar composition as plant/animal llipid. For this
experiment, yeast was selected because of several
reasons like easy availability, rapid growth rate, and
higher lipid accumulation capacity, capable to grow
on a variety of media etc. Among the 250 yeast strains
screened for xylose assimilating ing capacity, eight
oleaginous yeasts were selected by Sudan Black B
test. The lipid content of these 8 strains was
determined by soxhlet extraction method. The optimal
fermentation conditions were obtained as follows:
glucose as carbon source 100 g/l; yeayeast extract and
peptone as nitrogen sources at, respectively, 8 and 3
g/l; initial pH of 5.0; Inoculation volume of 5%;
temperature at 28°C, shaking speed of 180 r/min,
cultivated for 96 h. More encouraging results were
observed for the lipid production wit with alternative
carbon sources. In this experiment, yeast was adapted
to accumulate maximum quantity of lipids by
providing metabolic stress condition, which was later
converted into biodiesel by acid transesterification.
Elimination of lipid extraction step has made the
process much faster and easier as compared to
traditional methods. Presence of fatty acid methyl
esters were confirmed by high performance thin layer
chromatography (HPTLC) and gas chromatography
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M. Kannahi
PG and Research Department of Microbiology,
S.T.E.T. Women’s College, Sundarakkottai,
Mannargudi, Thiruvarur, Tamilnadu, India
(GC). Fatty acids composition was determined
determin by gas
chromatography (GC) by comparing with standards.
Keywords: Oleaginous yeast, Economic production of
biodiesel, Yeast biomass, Single step
transesterification method
INTRODUCTION
Biodiesel can be an interesting alternative for energy
resource and may be used as substitute for petroleum-
petroleum
based diesel. Increasing in its production, biodiesel
has attracted a broad public interest. The conventional
method for biodiesel production is to transesterify
plant oil with methanol (Krawczyk, 1996; Ma and
Hanna, 1999). However, the cost of biodiesel is
currently more expensive than that of conventional
diesel due to high cost share (70 - 85%) of the raw
material. Increasing interest is generated to explore
ways to reduce the high cost of biodiesel, especially
the cost of the raw materials (Wu and Miao, 2006). If
biodiesel can be produced from agricultural and
forestry residues, the environmental benefits can be
much more significant than the economic
econo benefits
(Hill, et al., 2006).
Biodiesel, a non-petroleum
petroleum based diesel fuel could be
defined as alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids. In the
principle process of biodiesel production which is also
known as transesterification, lipids are converted into
i
fatty acid methyl/ethyl esters in the presence of
suitable catalyst and alcohols. These catalysts may be
either chemical or enzymatic. (Ataya, et al., 2007;
Bajpai and Tyagi, 2006; Demirbas, 2008; Lotero, et
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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470
al., 2005; Vasudevan and Briggs, 2008). Biodiesel
production is based on either oleaginous yeast
sources. (Vasudevan and Briggs, 2008; Canakci and
Sanli, 2008; Bhattacharyya, 1999; Pinto, et al., 2005).
Problem with these kinds of sources are their limited
availability which becomes a major limiting factor in
biodiesel production. Now a days, scientists have also
focused on algae (micro and macro) and genetically
modified microorganisms as an alternative oleaginous
yeast due to limited availability of other sources.
(Kalscheuer, et al., 2006; Aresta, et al., 2005; Chisti,
2007). It is assumed that, as this biodiesel is produced
from biological method it is renewable, eco-friendly
and biodegradable. Reference have also shown that
this kind of biodiesel contains less sulfur as well as
CO and it also lacks polyaromatic hydrocarbons as
present in petroleum diesel (Bajpai and Tyagi, 2006).
As mentioned before, major obstacles with oleaginous
yeast based sources are their higher cost and lesser
availability. Scientists have focused on the oleaginous
microorganisms, as it is possible to produce sufficient
biomass by using fermentors and ultimately
production of higher quantity of lipids in the form of
stored lipids within the cell. (Li, Du and Liu, 2008).
Other advantages also include smaller area for
production as easy and rapid oil extraction methods
and ability to grow on a wide variety of media. Yeast,
fungi and certain microalgae are examples for such
microorganisms. (Li, Du and Liu, 2008; Antoni, et al.,
2007). Major lipid components found in yeast and
fungi are triglycerides having C16 and C18 long chain
fatty acids, which are very similar to the vegetable oil.
(Blagovi, et al., 2001; Gill, et al., 1977). Under
normal growth conditions, microorganisms do not
accumulate higher quantity of lipid, but their ability
could be enhanced by providing metabolic stress
conditions. (Gill, et al., 1977; Zhao, et al., 2008). One
of the most common and widely used methods is to
provide limited supply of nitrogen with excess carbon
source. Under nitrogen limiting condition, replication
of yeast is inhibited after certain growth cycles and
excess sugar is accumulated in the form of
triglycerides within cell as reserved energy source.
(Gill, et al.,1977; Mulliner and Daum, 2004).
Yeasts
Yeasts are defined as ascomycetous or
basidiomycetous fungi that are capable of reproducing
by budding or fission and form spores which are not
enclosed in a fruiting body (Boekhout and
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Kurtzman,1996). They are first classified based on its
sexuality (Ascomycotina or Basidiomycotina) or the
lack of sexual phase in the life cycle
(Deuteromycotina). The lower taxonomic
subdivisions (families, subfamilies, genera, species
and strain) are determined by its morphological,
physiological and genetic characteristics including
sexual reproduction (Kurtzman and Fell, 1998).
Yeasts Diversity
The number of discovered yeasts has been increasing
from year to year. More than 2500 yeast species were
published by 2005. It is assumed that only 1% of
yeast species is currently known which represents
approximately 1500 species. The total numbers of
yeast species on earth are expected to reach 150,000
(Barriga, et al., 2011). The diversity of yeast species
in particular niches is determined by its capability of
utilizing different carbon source and its nutritional
selectivity as it exhibits great specialization for habitat
(Phaff and Starmer, 1987). Yeasts can be isolated
from the terrestrial, aquatic and aerial environment.
Plant is the preferred habitat of yeasts community. A
few species are found to have commensalism or
parasitic relationships with animals. Extreme
environments like low water potential (high sugar or
salt concentration) and low temperature may be
inhabited by yeasts (Walker, 1998; Walker, 2009).
There are a broad diversity of yeast cells including its
size, shape and colour. Cell sizes of yeasts are
influenced by its species and growth condition. The
length of some yeast cells are only 2–3 μm while the
other species may reach the length of 20–50 μm
(Phaff and Starmer, 1987). Most yeasts have a width
in the range of 1–10 μm. Generally, the sizes of
brewing strains of S. cerevisiae are larger than
laboratory strains (Hough, et al.,1987). Many yeast
species including Saccharomyces spp. are ellipsoidal
or ovoid in shape and have creamy colour colonies
(Walker, 1998; Walker, 2009).
In the present study, yeast was isolated and adapted
for accumulation of lipids by providing metabolic
stress conditions. Yeast biomass was directly used for
acid transesterification without prior lipid extraction;
Presence of fatty acid methyl esters was determined
by HPTLC and GC.
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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470
Immobilization
Immobilized cell technology is commonly applied in
fermentation process. The benefits of immobilized
cells over free cells include higher cell density per
volume of reactor, easier separation from the reaction
medium, higher substrate conversion, less inhibition
by products, shorter reaction time and control of cell
replication (Duarte, et al.,2013). The immobilization
of yeast cells and its productivity are influenced by
several factors such as the surface characteristics of
the carrier, pore size, water content, hydrophilicity
and magnetism (Vucurovic, et al., 2009).
Immobilization should be performed under mild
condition to maintain the activity of the cells
(Calinescu, et al., 2012).
Immobilization of yeast cells
Cells can be immobilized by different types of
methods like adsorption, crosslinking, encapsulation
and entrapment. Entrapment is carried out by the
polymerization of an aqueous solution of acrylamide
monomers in which microorganisms are suspended. It
is commonly used to overcome the problems of
degradation and limitation of mass transfer. It avoids
the release of cells while allowing diffusion of
substrates and products(Chibata and Wingard,1983).
This method allows high biomass loading which
results in high ethanol productivity. Entrapment
method is widely used due to its simplicity, non-toxic,
less expensive, reversible and good mechanical
properties. Entrapment can be operated at extremely
high dilution rates without causing washout of cells.
Most of the researches involving the immobilization
of microbial cells were focused on gel entrapment.
The most commonly used gels are in the form of
spherical beads with diameters in the range of 0.3–5
mm. However, gel has limited mechanical stability
which can be easily damaged by the growth of the
microbial cells and carbon dioxide production.
Moreover, the presence of phosphates causes the
weakening of calcium alginate gels (Margaritis and
Merchant, 1987).
Adsorption is a very popular way of cell
immobilization due to its simple, cheap and fast
method. Cells are attached to the surface of the
material by electrostatic force such as Van der Waals
forces, ionic bonds, hydrogen bridges or covalent
interactions. Ionic attraction is used to immobilize
yeast cells. The supporting material used must have a
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high affinity in order for the yeast strain to withstand
the environmental conditions present within the
bioreactor. In most cases of continuous ethanol
production, adsorption is carried out by circulating a
concentrated suspension of yeast cells through the
bioreactor for several hours. Adsorption technique
does not require the use of toxic chemical and the
yeast cells can be maintained in a viable state.
Theabsorbed-cell system is limited by lower biomass
loading and lower feed flow rates compared to
entrapped-cell system. This is because the number of
yeast cells that can be absorbed on the carrier is
limited by the surface area of the carrier (Margaritis
and Merchant, 1987).
The other commonly used method for cells
immobilization is encapsulation which encloses cells
within a thin semi-permeable membrane. The cells are
free to move in the inner liquid core inside the
capsule. However, the space is limited by the outer
membrane (Ylitervo, et al., 2011). In fermentation,
the molecular dimensions of the microcapsules limit
the growth of cells and the size of both nutrients and
products. The rate of substrate transfer into the
capsules will determine the rate of reaction.
Encapsulation method gives several advantages such
as mechanical and chemical stability of the membrane
system, possibility of high loading and regulation of
the fermentation reaction by selective diffusion of
substrate and products (Phillips and Poon, 1988).
There are many types of supporting materials that
have been used in yeast cells immobilization such as
calcium alginate, sugarcane bagasse, delignified
cellulosic materials, orange peel, spent grains, corn
cobs, kcarrageenan, wood blocks, porous cellulose,
zeolite, loofa sponges and sorghum bagasse (Yu, et
al., 2007). The support used in immobilization must
be conducive to cell viability and have proper
permeability for the diffusion of oxygen, essential
nutrients, metabolic waste and secretory products
across the polymer network. There are two types of
polymers that are used as carrier in yeasts
immobilization which are natural and synthetic
polymers. The benefits of using natural polymers are
low price and no impurities produced from chemical
reaction. Synthetic polymers exhibit high chemical
and biological stability, mechanical resistance to
abrasion, permeable to reagents, and have large
surface, capacity and porosity (Stolarzewicz, et al.,
2011).
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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470
METHODS
Cell biomass determination for fungi
The fungal biomass of screened isolates, mycelia were
harvested from the incubated flasks by suction
filtration through Whatman No 1 filter paper and
thoroughly washed with distilled water. Then filtered
mycelia dried at 60° C in an oven for 15 hrs. The
weight of the dried sample was taken and dry biomass
was expressed in gl-1.
Cultural Condition
50 ml of this broth were dispensed in 250 ml conical
flasks, sterilized and incubated at 30°C, 200 rpm for 7
days in an incubator shaker. The fungal mycelium
was filtered through Whatman No.1 filter paper.
Liquids and biomass content of filtered fungal
mycelium were analyzed. Based on their earlier study,
glucose was found to be the best source for lipid
production. Hence the glucose was taken at different
concentration to find out the optimum level for
maximum lipids production.
Oil production of selected oleaginous fungi in flask
cultivation experiments
Identified fungi were cultivated in 250 ml conical
flasks containing 50 ml of the oil production medium
in the incubator shaker at 30°C and a shaking speed of
200 rpm. In order to select the optimal conditions,
effects of carbon sources (glucose, fructose, sucrose
and lactose), nitrogen sources (ammonium chloride –
NH4Cl, ammonium sulphate – (NH4)2SO4, and yeas
extract), temperature (20, 25, 30, 35 and 40°C) and
initial pH levels (5.5, 6.5, 7.5 and 8.5) on oil
production of the selected fungal species were
investigated. The carbon utilization pattern and lipid
production by the selected fungal species were studied
under different concentrations of glucose and
nitrogen. The lipid content in biomass and the
biomass growth was measured every day. All the
above experiments were conducted with three
replications and culturing was performed in an
incubator shaker at 30°C, 200 rpm for 7 days.
Extraction of fungal lipids
Fungal lipids were extracted from the dried mycelia as
described by Bligh and Tyer method (Bligh and Dyer,
1959). The influence of different nutritional (carbon
and nitrogen source) and growth conditions (pH and
temperature). The lipids and biomass production by
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fungal isolate with different carbon sources were also
studied with following composition Glucose 30.0
(0.16 M), Yeast extract 5.0 g/l, Distilled water 1000
ml, pH 5.4, Glucose in the broth was replaced
individually with different carbon sources. (Ahmed, et
al., 2006).Different carbon sources like glucose,
fructose, sucrose and lactose were used in the
concentration of 0.16 (M) in one gram of fungal
isolate as mycelial suspension.
They present great diversity. They grow exponentially
fast as they divide once every 20 to 90 min, they are
able to utilize cheap substrates, they can be cultivated
at large scale, spontaneous mutants can be easily
isolated and strains can be genetically manipulated.
Among microorganisms, yeast seem to be the most
adapted microorganisms for biotechnological
applications as bacteria store excess carbon as
polysaccharides, and lipids
mostly in form polyhydroxyalkanoates or wax ester,
while yeasts accumulate carbon as glycogen and
lipids mostly in the form of TAG.
Fewer than 30 of the 600 known species of yeasts are
found to be oleaginous. The best known oleaginous
yeasts are typically found, but not exclusively, in
genera such as Candida, Cryptococcus, Rhodotorula,
Rhizopus, Trichosporon, Lipomyces and Yarrowia
(Ratlegeet al., 1990). On average, these yeasts
accumulate lipids to levels corresponding to 40% of
their biomass. However, under conditions of nutrient
limitation, these levels may exceed 70% of their cell
dry weight (CDW). The lipid contents and fatty acid
profiles of some representative oleaginous yeast are
presented in table 1. We observe that lipid content and
profile differs between species, however it can be
acknowledged that the main FA produced by
oleaginous yeast are similar to those produced by
plants and are mainly consisted by: myristic (C14:0),
palmitic (C16:0), palmitoleic (C16:1), stearic (C18:0),
oleic (C18:1), linoleic (C18:2) and linoleic acid
(C18:3).
Incidentally, this is the type of oil composition that
has been recommended for biodiesel production
(Steen et al., 2010). Actually, the most common
feedstock used for its production is rapeseed and
soybean oil, having FA profile similar to yeasts. This
profile is crucial for the utility of biodiesel as defines
the physical and chemical properties of the lipid
mixture, i.e viscosity, energetic density and melting
point. The above specifications refer to the use of
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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470
biodiesel in standard diesel engines, alone or blended
with regular diesel fuel. Otherwise, biodiesel can also
be used as a low carbon alternative to heating oil.
Furthermore, the development of genetic tools for
yeast engineering coupled with culture strategy give
us the ability to control and modulate the fatty acid
profile produced. This can broaden the utility of the
FA mixture produced and meet the specifications of
aviation fuels or the needs of the oleo chemical
industry. Another advantage is that estimation of
quantitative and qualitative productivity of the yeast
process is superior to plant cultivation as fermentation
is not subjected to climate changes, microbial or
insect infections. This could lead to the definition of
an industrial process with identical performances
around the world. However, a low cost starting
material is essential for the economic viability of the
process.
To this end, we should acknowledge the yeasts ability
to convert renewable carbohydrates or industrial by-
products such as glycerol or lactose into fatty acids.
The major byproduct in conventional biodiesel
production is glycerol: for every tone of biodiesel
manufactured, 100 kg of glycerol is produced. As a
consequence, the increase in global biodiesel
production resulted in a crash to glycerol’s market
price (Thurmond, 2008). It would be thus a great
opportunity for yeasts to use this cheap by-product as
starting material to regenerate fatty acids for biodiesel
production in a recycling nature process. In order to
better understand the potential of yeasts as oil
producers, we would try to briefly overview the
mechanisms of the cell leading to lipid accumulation.
We would also try to provide information about the
advances made in order to increase the amount of
lipids produced and to modify the FA profile.

Table 1: Lipid accumulation and fatty acid profiles of selected oleaginous yeast

Species Lipid Major fatty acid residues (% w/w)

content (% C16:0 C16:1 C18:0 C18:1 C18:2 C18:3
CDW)
Cryptococcus curvatus 58 25 Trace 10 57 7 0
Cryptococcus albidus 65 12 1 3 73 12 0
Candida sp 42 44 5 8 31 9 1
Lipomycesstarkeyi 63 34 6 5 51 3 0
Rhodotorulaglutinis 72 37 1 3 47 8 0
Rhodotorulagraminis 36 30 2 12 36 15 4
Rhizopusarrhizus 57 18 0 6 22 10 12
Trichosporonpullulans 65 15 0 2 57 24 1
YarrowiaLipolytica 36 11 6 1 28 51 1

Extraction of Lipid for 2 minutes. In the next step, 1.5ml of distilled

Lipid was extracted only for comparative analysis in
HPTLC and to calculate percentage conversion of
total lipids into biodiesel. After 5 days of incubation
on a rotary shaker at 200 rpm at 25°C, produced
biomass was collected by centrifugation at 8500 rpm
for 20mins. The pellet was washed twice with
distilled water and used for lipid extraction. Blight
and dyer method with some modifications was used
for lipid extraction (Blight and Dyer 1959). In the
process, cell suspension was prepared by suspending
known quantity of biomass in known volume of
sterile distilled water. To this mixture of chloroform:
methanol (1:2) (3.75 ml/ml) of suspension) was added
and vortex at least for 15mins. Then 1.5ml of
chloroform/ml of suspension was added and mixed
water/ml was added and mixed. After centrifugation
at 8000 rpm for 10mins, lower solvent phase was
collected and dried at room temperature. The residue
was suspended in known volume of chloroform:
methanol (2:1) and stored at 4 -8 °C.
Biomass Production
To screen and select the highest biodiesel producer
among purified fungal isolates, they were cultured in
basal medium (in g/l: yeast extract 0.5, MgSO4.7H2O
0.4, KH2PO4 2.0, CaC12 0.5, CuSO4 5H2O 0.05 and
5% glucose (w/v), with initial pH 6). Flasks were
removed every 24 hours for seven days and microbial
cells were harvested from the media by centrifugation
and washed with distilled water three times, then

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470
freeze dried at -50°C. Exacted weight was taken, and
then total lipids were extracted from the dried biomass
with chloroform: methanol, volume ratio of 2:1.
Ultrasonication to favor cell membrane disruption
during extraction was done. The mixture containing
extracted lipids was separated from residual biomass
by centrifugation and the solvent fraction was
transferred to a new tube. Then the residual of solvent
was removed in a rotary evaporator followed by
lyophilization to determine the ratio of extracted
lipids in compare to the cell dry weight.
Screening for oleaginous fungi
After reaching to the pure culture, fungi were allowed
to grow for 3 days. So, the amount of oleaginous
microorganisms and the content of lipid accumulated
could reach a certain level. Subsequently, the isolates
that appeared earlier and grew the fastest were picked
to visualize the intracellular lipids inside fungal cells.
Fungal biomass was stored in a dark with 0.5 ml PBS
solution and 0.05 ml Nile-red solution (Nile red 25 µg
Nile-red/ acetone 1000 ml) for 30 min (Lim, et al.,
2003). Then, stained lipid bodies were photographed
using fluorescence microscope (IX-70, Olympus,
Tokyo, Japan) equipped with a CCD camera (U-
CMT, Olympus, Tokyo, Japan).
Direct Transesterification
Among the various methods of transesterification,
acid transesterification was chosen for production of
FAMEs. Acid transesterification was selected because
studies (Demirbas, 2008; Fallon et al., 2007). have
shown that, it is possible to convert variety of lipids
into their respective esters by acid transesterification
without prior extraction. In this modified process,
dried yeast biomass was mixed with 20 volume of
methanol containing concentrated sulfuric acid to a
final concentration of 0.02 mol/l. Reaction was
carried out in a tightly closed glass bottle at 70° C
with constant stirring for 24 hrs. At the end of
reaction, suspension was cooled and filtered. To the
filtrate, hexane was added to recover the FAMEs.
Upper hexane layer containing FAMEs was collected
and used for various analyses. Similar procedure was
used to produce FAMEs from yeast grown under
normal condition to compare FAMEs composition
produced by yeast grown under nitrogen limiting
media.
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Screening of oleaginous yeast
The isolated 250 yeast strains were further screened
using a rapid and sensitive technique. The cells were
stained with Sudan Black B so that the absorbance
measured at 580 nm gave lipid concentration in the
fermentation broth using unstained cells as control
(Thakur, 1989). The total lipid concentration of the
selected 8 strains was determined by Soxhlet
extraction method (Dai et al., 2005). The 8 oleaginous
yeast strains were precultured in inoculum medium,
and then 24 h old preculture was inoculated on
nitrogen-limited medium for 3 days at 28°C with
shaking at 140 r/min in 2000 ml Erlenmeyer flasks
containing 500 ml media.
Analytical methods
Cell biomass was determined after harvesting mycelia
from the cultures by filtration through Whatman No.1
filter paper. The harvested mycelia were thoroughly
washed with sterile distilled water and then dried at
60°C in an oven for 15 h. Residual glucose in the
culture filtrate was determined in accordance with the
method used by (Somogyi, 1952). Fungal oils were
extracted from the dried mycelia using the solvent
choloroform: methanol (2:1) using a soxhelt extractor
(Bligh and Dyer, 1959) and then the solvents were
evaporated in a rotary evaporator. The amount of oils
was measured using gravimetric method.
The fatty acids present in the fungal oils were
determined after conversion into fatty acid methyl
esters (FAMEs). The method was used by Morison
and Smith (1964). After addition of 2 ml of 0.5 M
KOH in methanol to the oils along with two standards
(pentadeconoic acid and ribitol), the mixture was
boiled in a water bath at 90°C for 30 min. After
cooling down to ambient temperature, 2 ml of 14%
BF3 in methanol was added and the mixture was
boiled at 90°C for 30 min. After cooling down, 2 ml
of water and 1 ml of hexane was added and the
mixture was centrifuged at 5000 rpm at 28°C. The top
liquid layer was filtered through 0.22 µm cellulose
acetate membrane filter paper and then analyzed with
gas chromatography (GC) (ASTM American standard
for testing of materials). The GC conditions were 70
ev (m/Z) 50-550, source temperature at 230°C and
quadruple temperature at 150°C in the EI mode with
an HP-5ms capillary column (30 m x 0.25 mm i.d.,
0.25 mm film thickness; J&W scientific, USA).
Helium was the carrier gas at a flowrate of 1.0
ml/min. The inlet temperature was 300°C and the
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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470
oven temperature was programmed at 150°C for 2
min, increase at 4°C /min up to 300°C and then at
300°C for 20 min. Samples were injected at 1µl with a
split ratio of 50:1. The extracted crude oil samples
were subjected to the analysis of the physical and
chemical properties, including kinetic viscosity,
specific gravity, flash point, fire point, cloud point,
pour point, calorific value, carbon residue, free fatty
acids, acid value and ash content) according to the
procedures of American Standards for Testing of
Material.
Molecular genetics of yeasts
The production of biodiesel is founded on the ability
of yeasts to catabolize six-carbon molecules such as
glucose into two carbon components diesel, without
proceeding to the final oxidation product which is
CO2. Crabtree positive yeasts such as S. cerevisiae
accumulate diesel in the presence of oxygen, however
Candia albicans which is a crabtree-negative yeast
catabolizes sugars into CO2 in the presence of oxygen
(De Deken, 1966). The presence of six carbon
carbohydrates represses the oxidative respiration
pathway in Crabtree positive yeasts and energy for
growth is generated via glycolysis. Upon depletion of
six carbon molecules, the catabolism shifts to
oxidation of two carbon molecules into CO2( Postma,
et al.,1989). This phenomenon is termed at the
‘diauxic shift’. The process of biodiesel production
via fermentative metabolism and the diauxic shift is
dependent upon the enzyme Alcohol Dehydrogenase
which is encoded on the ADH1locus. ADH1 catalyzes
the reduction of acetaldehyde to diesel during the
fermentation of glucose; it can also catalyze the
reverse reaction which is the conversion of diesel into
acetaldehyde, albeit with a lower catalystic efficiency
(Bennetzen and Hall, 1982).
Molecular characterization of oleaginous yeasts
Genomic DNA was extracted from cultures grown on
40 g/L glucose, 5 g/L peptone, 5 g/L yeast autolysate,
and 20 g/L agar (GPYA) medium for three days using
the FastDNA kit (BIO101, Carlsbad, CA, U.S.A.)
with the “FastPrep” Instrument (Q-Biogene). Primers
V9G (de Hoog and Gerrits van den Ende 1998) and
LR5 (Vilgalys and Hester 1990) were used to amplify
the region of the rRNA gene operon that includes the
3′ end of the smallsubunitrRNA gene, the ITS regions
(ITS 1, ITS 2 and the intervening 5.8S rRNA gene),
and the D1/D2 domains of the 26S rRNA gene of the
large subunit, as described by Knutsen et al. (2007).
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The PCR products were separated by electrophoresis
at 80 V for 40 min on a 0.8 % (w/v) agarose gel
containing 0.1 μg/mL ethidium bromide in 1× TAE
buffer (0.4 M Tris, 0.05 M NaAc and 0.01 M EDTA,
pH 7.85) and examined under UV-light. The
amplicons were sequenced in both directions using
the primers LR0R (Vilgalys and Hester 1990) and
LR5 for the D1/D2 domain, while the primers V9G
and ITS4 (White et al. 1990) were used for the ITS
domain (ITS 1, ITS 2 and the intervening 5.8S rRNA
gene). The BigDye Terminator version 3.1 Cycle
Sequencing kit (Applied Biosystems) was used
according to the manufacturer’s recommendations and
the products were analyzed on an ABI Prism 3730XL
DNA Sequencer (Perkin-Elmer). A consensus
sequence was computed from the forward and reverse
sequences with SeqMan version 8 from the Lasergene
package (DNASTAR). All sequences of the studied
strains were blasted against sequences in GenBank
and the CBS yeast database in order to identify the
oleaginous yeasts. Sequences of theD1/D2 of the 26S
rRNA obtained during this study and related
sequences from the Gen- Bank (NCBI) database were
aligned and phylogenetic analyses were done using
MEGA 7 version (Kumar et al., 2016). The
phylogenetic relationship of these yeast strains is
displayed in a distance based Neighbor-Joining tree.
HPTLC Analysis
HPTLC was carried out by using CAMAG V
instrument (Germany). Silica Gel G 254 plates were
used as stationary phase, on which a known quantity
of previously extracted yeast lipids and esterified
product were applied. The plate was developed in
hexane:diethyl ether(9:1). Plate was stained with
phosphomolybdic acid (5% in ethanol) and heated at
105°C until the spots were visualized. Stained plates
were scanned using CAMAG V scanner at 534 nm.)
Biodiesel production and analysis by gas
chromatography
Microbial oil was extracted as mentioned above
before transesterfication. The transesterfication
reactions were carried out using sulfuric acid as
catalyst in flasks at following conditions: 30:1 molar
ratio of methanol to oil, 160 rpm, 5 h of reaction time,
temperature at 55°C and 80% catalyst amount based
on oil weight (Liu, et al., 2004; Wu and Miao,
2006). The reaction mixture was cooled and
undisturbed until two layers were formed in a
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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470
separating funnel. The upper layer (biodiesel) was
separated with petroleum ether and the final biodiesel
product was obtained by evaporating the ether from
the solution. The fatty acid methyl esters of biodiesel
were analyzed' by GC/MS. It was performed with
Agilent 6890N Gas Chromatograph connected to
Agilent 5973 Mass Spectrometer at 70 eV (m/z 50-
550; source at 230 °C and quadruple at 150 °C) in the
El mode with an HP-5ms capillary column (30 m '
0.25 mm i.d., 0.25 mm film thickness; J & W
Scientific, USA). The carrier gas, helium, was
maintained at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The inlet
temperature was maintained at 300 °C and the oven
was programmed for 2 min at 150 °C, then increased
to 300 °C at 4 °C/min, and maintained for 20 min at
300 °C. The injection volume was 1 ml, with a split
ratio of 50:1. Structural assignments were based on
interpretation of mass spectrometric fragmentation
and confirmed by comparison of retention times as
well as fragmentation pattern of authentic compounds
and the spectral data obtained from the Wiley and
NIST libraries.
CONCLUSION
In this study, a simple method was used to isolate
oleaginous yeast from soil and used for biodiesel
production. It was shown that several strains produced
lipids in high yields when fed with carbohydrates.
This is an efficient way of producing lipids from
carbohydrates. Therefore, potentially it could be used
to produce a large amount of lipids form biodiesel.
Engineered organisms using S. cerevisiae platforms
are an interesting option, but are still full of
challenges if industrial application and large-scale
production are intended. Biodiesel are a commodity
that needs to be competitive with the oil industry
products, and therefore, the operating cost is a major
concern. A bio-based economy using engineered
microorganisms may be promising, but multiples
aspects need to be dealt with before this option can
become a reality. Sterile condition, pre-treatments,
raw material costs and contamination by different
microflora are aspects still needing a solution.
The costs of microbial lipids are still too high in order
to compete with plant oils for biodiesel
manufacturing. Cheap carbon sources have
necessarily to be used as carbon sources for the
cultivation of these microorganisms and the
performance of the bioprocess has to be further
@ IJTSRD | Available Online @ www.ijtsrd.com | Volume – 1 | Issue – 6 | Sep - Oct 2017
improved in terms of both the yield and the
productivity. The exploration of the natural
biodiversity is a promising strategy to identify novel
oleaginous species that assimilate and get fat on agro-
industrial residues, particularly the lingo-cellulosic
biomass and crude glycerol from biodiesel industry.
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